c deborah kunzie - wildlife & nature photographer
The morning of April 11th, 1976 I was sitting in a hotel room in Oakland, California. Young, married, unsure and away from home. I had no plans for my future and my eyes were being opened to a world I knew nothing about.
My Father was home, dying. I was a newlywed and confused. Knowing I should be with my Father but yet my new husband was telling my place was with him.
I sat down to write my dad and let him know that I was doing everything possible to make my way back home to see him. I described in the letter how beautiful the scenery was and that I wished someday to bring he and mom here. I went on to write that I was so thankful to have been blessed with two lovely parents and that I had not forgotten all he had taught me. About love and about God. I was praying everyday for his health and that God would find away to get me home before it was to late.
God answered that prayer. I returned home about three months before dad passed away in September of that same year.
A neighbor and close friend of my fathers told me a few days after dad’s passing that he was sitting at the table with dad when my letter came in the mail. He said he opened it slowly, read it with tears in his eyes, closed it and said, “I am ready to go home now, my job is complete.” My fathers primary prayer was that he lived long enough to see his family understand the true meaning of God and know it.
Now as a mother, grandmother, sister and friend I have come to realize the importance of knowing God and keeping Him close more than ever. This world in which we live becomes more and more corrupt but I continue to pray for the healing and Grace to be applied to us all. I especially want that for my loved ones and those close to me.
I have known God from a very early age and even though my Walk through this life has not always been Godly I can honestly say my prayer has been this:
Psalm 71:17-18
O God, You have taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared Your wondrous works.
Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, [but keep me alive] until I have declared Your mighty strength to [this] generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come.